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Tuesday, 18 October 2016

The Division is a third person shooter set in a virus ravaged New York
City. You play as a Division agent – an elite, undercover operative
that is ‘activated’ in times of dire need. You’re sent into the
New York Quarantine Zone as part of a ‘second wave’ of Division
agents when those preceding you mysteriously fell silent. Your
mission is simple – liaise with the local JTF (Joint Task Force) of
peacekeepers, re-establish law and order, investigate the virus
outbreak and discover what happened to the first wave.

And
that’s exactly what you’ll do, over the 20-30 hours it will take
to clear the ‘core’ missions and the majority of the side
content. Sort of. Because one of my main issues with The Division is
how there’s very little resolution to anything. You do re-establish
some semblance of order, but this is only reflected in how your
primary base of operations changes over the course of the game. On
the streets of the city, however, nothing ever changes.

You
do investigate the outbreak, and you do learn more about exactly what
it is, how it was created and who is responsible. But the game ‘ends’
before anything practical comes of it. I say ‘ends’ because The
Division doesn’t really end. The world is locked into a perpetual
state of chaos despite your efforts.

And
the first wave of Division agents? You do find out what happened to
some of them, but that particular story thread doesn’t really go
anywhere either, and the final mission is a terrible ‘boss’ fight
against some random asshole in a helicopter. Which is also how Rise
of the Tomb Raider ended. STOP IT.

I
wish I could say more about the story of The Division, because the
set up is fantastic, but it’s just not present in the game in any
meaningful way. You get a few odd cut-scenes here and there, in which
your character stands mute like a f**king weirdo, but most of the
‘story’ takes place in short radio messages. It’s kind of funny
going from a game like The New Order which kept shoving its story
down my throat, to The Division which barely has any and desperately
needed more.

As
I said, the set up is great but the game does sod all with it and
nothing you do leads to any solid answers or tangible changes to the
game world. It’s such a shame, because the world of The Division is
fantastic, and all the little collectibles such as the phone logs and
the virtual recreation ‘echoes’ build a wonderful and believable
City That’s Gone To Shit.

The
environmental details are great if you take your time to explore.
Yes, there’s a fair bit of Copy & Paste, but there’s also a
lot of unique, hand crafted environments. It’s the game world of
The Division that is the real star and easily the best part of the
experience.

The
City is split into multiple zones, each with its own safe house (fast
travel point) and its own side missions. The size of the world is
fairly impressive, but once you’ve cleared the first few zones
you’ll quickly realise that you’ve essentially seen all The
Division has to offer in terms of content beyond the ‘core’
missions.

Every
zone has the same set of missions revolving around rescuing hostages,
repairing communication relays, recovering virus research, securing
aid supplies, assisting JTF forces and a few others that I’m
probably forgetting because all of them (aside from a handful of odd
exceptions) are pretty much just about shooting people. A lot
of people.

There’s
something a little odd about how you can just murder people in The
Division and no one ever seems to comment on how you’re essentially
acting as judge, jury and executioner, even to people who may just be
scavenging for food and aren’t really any threat to you at all. But
the game doesn’t seem very interested in its own story or setting
beyond giving the player objectives to shoot at everything, so
I won’t waste any more time worrying about it.

And
that’s really all The Division is – a very shallow to the point
of non-existent narrative that’s used as an excuse to send you to
various locations to shoot at people. I wish there were stats to know
exactly how many people I’d shot, because I’m sure I’d probably
wiped out more people than the virus did by the end of the game.
There’s nothing complex about the objectives or how the various
missions are structured – Go to X. Kill people. Fight Boss –
that’s how every main mission plays out.

But
I won’t lie – it is sort of fun, in a mindlessly repetitive kind
of way. It’s almost relaxing how basic, repetitive and simple
everything is. Go shoot people. Go shoot more people. The Division
doesn’t try to be anything more than that. I find that rather
disappointing considering the intriguing set up to the story and the
wonderfully built world. Where’s the ambition? The Division doesn’t
have any. It plays everything so safe that it ends up incredibly
bland.

Not
bad, you must understand. Because as far as its gameplay goes,
it’s perfectly competent. But that’s all it is – a competent,
uninspired, repetitive shooter that doesn’t even attempt to do
anything outstanding. I’m not sure what’s worse – a shit game
that at least tries something daring, or a game like The Division
that doesn’t do anything remotely interesting.

And
it could have, which is the frustrating thing. Whilst gameplay is
always key – this is an interactive medium, so how we interact with
the experience should always be considered the most important aspect
– some games need story more than others, and The Division
certainly needed far more than what we got.

The
core missions are all fairly decent, with various locations across
the City. They’re fun to play through once, but only once. I really
don’t know why anyone would want to play them multiple times. Maybe
they’re more fun in co-op, which the game does support, but I still
don’t know why you’d bother.

I
played The Division solo and didn’t have any real trouble with the
missions, though there are a few tricky moments that are clearly
designed for more than one player. As you complete these missions you
are rewarded with experience and new items that allow you to level up
and customise your character in terms of abilities, equipment,
weapons and even cosmetics. But this is another area where The
Division disappoints.

The
initial character creator is terrible with an extremely limited
selection. The cosmetic stuff equally so. And though you’ll find
plenty of weapons in the game, there’s only really a small number
of variations of shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and pistols.
Everything is rated by a colour code of ‘standard’, ‘rare’
and ‘legendary’ type items and stats, with corresponding level
requirements.

And
that’s all you really do in The Division – level up to get new,
slightly more powerful gear. In fact, that’s all the competitive
multiplayer side of the game – The Dark Zone – is really all
about, and something I touched upon when I wrote about the Beta for
The Division back in February. It’s a hamster wheel with no real
goal aside from acquiring more gear in order to acquire more
gear.

I
know I’ve spent nearly this entire review moaning about The
Division, so I really should reiterate that it’s not a bad game at
all. It’s fine. FINE. But that’s all it is. Fine. Okay. Unremarkable. A
shrug of the shoulders. It does nothing memorable or interesting. It
reminded me of another Ubisoft title I played this year – Far Cry 4
– another game that felt built to a formula, with anything
potentially interesting or unique stripped away.

That
said, I didn’t find The Division anywhere near as dull or
irritating. Hell, I actually quite enjoyed it, believe it or not. It
was a fairly entertaining, if mindless way to waste 30 hours of my
life. But if I’m being honest, I’ll probably forget I even played
it by this time next week.

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Friday, 7 October 2016

Wolfenstein: The New Order is the most disappointing title I’ve played this
year. It’s a first person shooter set in an alternate history
1960s, where the Nazis rule the world. This is a game that has you
stealing a Nazi submarine, fighting giant Nazi robots and travelling
to a NAZI MOON BASE.

It
allows you to dual wield every available weapon, even sniper rifles –
which double as rapid fire laser guns. This should be the best
shooter ever – or at least, a pretty f**king entertaining one.
But instead, I found The New Order to be one of the most tedious and
unexciting shooters I’ve ever played.

The
story of TNO is a disjointed mess that can’t quite decide if it
wants to be super serious or super silly and doesn’t succeed at
being either. The setting is certainly interesting, and the small
details that build a picture of this alternate history are great.

But
the game swings wildly between a more sombre, serious tale, and being
completely and utterly ridiculous. Your character mumbles depressing
little monologues about the horrors of war whilst simultaneously
exploding Nazi spacemen into red mist with a laser rifle on the moon.
The tonal clash is so bad it’s almost funny.

I
probably wouldn’t have found the story so terrible if it wasn’t
for the frequent cut-scenes interrupting what little action the game
has to offer. The main campaign lasts barely 8 hours even on the
hardest difficulty, which thanks to some rather poor AI is an utter
cakewalk. It wouldn’t be so bad if that was 8 hours of ball busting
action, but it’s more like 3 or 4. And it’s not very ball busting
at all.

There’s
surprisingly little action to be had in TNO. The actual combat heavy
sections, where you finally get to let loose with your arsenal of
dual wield rocket launching assault rifles (!) is where the game
actually shines. But these sections are frustratingly short and
continually interrupted with tedious ‘stealth’ sequences, dull
cut-scenes and, believe it or not – fetch quests.

When
I first arrived at the ‘home base’ I was interested to see how it
would evolve over the course of the game, but I quickly began to
dread every return between the core missions. Because rather than
simply letting the player explore and chat with people at their own
leisure, someone decided it would be really great to force the player
to tediously search for random objects, tools and parts for various
NPCs. Yes, it’s about as exciting as it sounds.

But
I could ignore the shoddy story and the dull fetch quests if the game
just had far more bite to it. The core gameplay mechanics are solid.
It’s a mixture of run and gun (and slide and gun) with an automatic
cover system. Combined with the ability to dual wield every weapon,
and the mechanics are in place for a fast paced, explosive and highly
entertaining campaign.

But the game never really takes advantage of its own mechanics. It’s
far too concerned about interrupting you for another cut-scene, or
forcing another stealth section. Every time it feels like the game is
about to let you loose it abruptly (and frustratingly) pulls you
back. It’s like it just doesn’t want you to have fun.

A
1960s Nazi Moon Base should be the greatest FPS level ever.
I was expecting it to be the real highlight of the game. But instead,
it’s just another series of generic corridors. You get out onto the
surface of the moon for about 2 minutes in order to travel from one
airlock to the next. But aside from a couple of hostile robots,
there’s no action on the surface at all.

Why didn’t we have a full-on action sequence on the surface?
Blasting Nazi spacemen with laser rifles, bouncing from cater to
crater in the low gravity, watching enemy corpses floating into
space? Exciting, silly, fun. But we don’t get anything like that at
all. We just get more dull corridors followed by another terrible
boss fight in a hanger bay.

Oh
yes, the ‘boss fights’. The boss fights in this game are honestly
the worst. The giant
Nazi robot may be the worst of the bunch, as you simply sit in a hole
and duck, before popping out and shooting its big red eye a few times
until you can run underneath it and shoot its big red ass.

The level design is equally uninspired with a familiar pattern of –
corridor – arena – corridor – arena regardless of location. And
although the novelty of dual wielding everything is initially great,
the game doesn’t have a particularly great selection of weapons. It
also removes weapons between levels, forcing you to start from
scratch every time, usually by forcing a stealth sequence.

Outside of the fun dual wielding and the interesting setting, it’s
hard to really think of anything I enjoyed in The New Order. It’s
short, easy, with little to no replay value. The story is a
disjointed mess. The level design is basic. The boss fights are
terrible. And whilst the shooting mechanics are solid, the game never
really lets the player fully enjoy them.

I
kind of hate this game. It’s not thatbad, because overall,
it is a competent, if uninspired FPS. It looks pretty good and I
really did like the setting a lot. But the game just falls so f**king
flat that I can’t help but be massively disappointed. I mean
… Nazi Moon Base! How the
hell do you f**k that up so badly?

Sunday, 2 October 2016

If
you’ve followed this blog, you’ll know I’ll play online shooter
betas when available but rarely, if ever, go on to purchase the full
release. The original Titanfall was different. I enjoyed it in a way
I haven’t truly enjoyed or been hooked by any online shooter in
years. And haven’t since, in fact. Which is why its upcoming sequel
is one of my most highly anticipated games.

So
let’s break down what I love about Titanfall. There are three main
components. The first is the tiered system of gameplay. There are
four very distinct layers to Titanfall combat – Pilot vs Pilot,
Pilot vs Titan, Titan vs Pilot and Titan vs Titan. The gameplay
constantly shifts and evolves as these layers overlap during the
course of a match. Each layer has its own strengths, challenges and
skill curve.

The
second most important component is movement. The movement system of
Titanfall also had its own skill curve that separated the experienced
players from the newcomers. This was always apparent during ‘free
weekend’ events, when new players would remain primarily on the
ground, whilst Titanfall veterans would be bouncing overhead like a
pinball with a rocket up their ass.

Mastering
the movement system and learning the fastest way of traversing the
various maps was a major part of Titanfall’s appeal. Which is why
the third most important component of the original Titanfall is its
map design. I was somewhat critical of the game on release for what I
considered to be a lack of environmental variety, but I couldn’t
fault their fantastic design which perfectly served not only the
movement system, but the multi-tiered gameplay. The maps accommodated
all four layers almost perfectly, but more importantly, they also
ensured a degree of balance.

And
these three components – multi-layered gameplay, movement and map
design is what I consider to be the ‘holy trinity’ of Titanfall.
They really nailed these aspects, which is why it was so unfortunate
that the shell surrounding this core was rather thin.

There
was no single player campaign, only a limited multiplayer ‘campaign’
which strung various maps together. The maps and modes on release,
whilst enjoyable, were also somewhat limited. The weapon selection,
Pilot/Titan customisation, player abilities and progression were also
fairly lacklustre and bare bones.

Over
time, with various updates and DLC, Titanfall expanded for the
better, even including an enjoyable Pilots vs AI mode (Frontier
Defence) which is something I suggested during my original review.

From
what I’ve seen of Titanfall 2, it appears to have retained the core
‘trinity’ (although we’ve not yet seen enough of the maps to
make a firm judgement on that aspect) but also expands and evolves
the weaker elements of the original.

In
addition to those key components, Titanfall also had several other
features that I thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst the ‘campaign’ was
disappointing, the few narrative and world building aspects were
extremely promising. The Titanfall universe seemed ripe for a full
single player, story driven campaign, which is why I’m so pleased
that Titanfall 2 will feature such an addition.

Another
key component was spectacle. The background scenery, the radio
chatter, the ongoing war between AI bots – it all made other
shooters seem sterile, empty and static in comparison. This was
particularly true in Titanfall’s flagship mode – Attrition –
which is why I was even more pleased when the mode was officially
confirmed for the sequel.

In
fact, nearly everything I’ve seen of Titanfall 2 has impressed me.
The initial Technical Test raised some concerns, but these were
swiftly addressed. And though I’m still uncertain about some design
decisions – such as the new Titan shield and rodeo mechanic, or the
removal of the Burn Card system – I’m keeping an open mind. I
wasn’t too sure about the ‘hero class’ style Titans either, but
having seen more gameplay, I can see it providing a far more varied
experience to Titan gameplay, particularly in the returning Titan vs
Titan mode.

If
Titanfall 2 can successfully build upon the core foundation of the
original, whilst expanding the surrounding shell, it has real Game of
the Year potential. I’ve seen enough to pick it up on release.
Hopefully it can live up to my expectations.